


Cigarette Circles and Bullet Wounds

by charliepower



Series: Coldflash2017A [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lewis Snart's A+ Parenting, M/M, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Scars, Soulmate AU, coldflash2017A, kinda mention of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 17:03:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10666992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliepower/pseuds/charliepower
Summary: Barry's wondered his whole life who the scars on his skin belong to. Then Leonard Snart is arrested and Barry finds out much sooner than he thought he would.





	Cigarette Circles and Bullet Wounds

**Author's Note:**

> April 10, Day Two, Soulmate AU:   
> Do they share one another’s names but have to keep quiet because it’s the 1930s and illegal? Do their worlds explode into colour when they first meet on that train? Are they changing in the locker rooms when one of them realises the other carries the same mark as they do? Or does one have the others name but the other doesn’t? Does Barry wonder how anyone could treat their child likes this, after Nora and Henry sit him down and explain the gruesome scars he has?

 

Barry splashed the water over his face and stared into the mirror, taking a deep breath. He was in the bathroom at the CCPD and he wasn’t afraid to admit that he was hiding from Joe and Iris and … him.

Barry traced his finger over the small scar on his lip; it suddenly seeming a lot bigger now that he knew whom it belonged to.

 

Barry could feel himself beginning to panic, could feel the terror of the situation really sink in. Worst of all the scars on his body suddenly became _real._

Ripping of his shirt and jumper Barry threw them across the bathroom, watching them land near the door, before looking down at himself.

 

His whole body was covered in scars; from jagged bottle ones and smooth knife ones, to little cigarette circle burns and bullet wounds. Barry knew what had caused most of the scars on his skin, his skill as a forensic scientist taught him that, but before today he’d never known who they belonged to, and he never thought he’d have a chance to find out how they happened.

 

Barry remembered the day he asked his parents about it, asked why so many adults told him they were sorry if they even saw him topless, if they ever saw his arms. His mother and father had sat him down to explain that people had soulmates. That these soulmates were linked so closely that when one of them were hurt, those marks would appear on the others skin, that they held the marks of their soulmate’s suffering so their soulmate didn’t have to.

 

He had been eight years old when they told him. He remembered that night when he went to his room, looking at all the scars scattered across his body and for the first time they meant something. For the first time Barry cried because of them, for the first time he wanted to hide them from the world. He couldn’t understand why someone would hurt one person so much and he didn’t want anyone to see how much his soulmate had suffered.

 

As Barry grew older, with every new scar that was added to his body the guilt he felt increased. He felt that it was his fault each time he failed to protect his soulmate, even though there was nothing he could do to help, he knew that. Without knowing whom his soulmate was Barry had to just stand by and accept each new mark on his body. There were so many, yet Barry still cried each time a new one appeared.

 

But it was strange, despite this, when Barry had woke up and found out about his accelerated healing the first thing he felt was a heart clenching fear, a fear that the marks would be gone. Barry was scared that he would lose the only thing that connected him to his soulmate. But they had remained, because they weren’t his scars really, and his body wouldn’t heal them.

 

 

But now Barry knew who the marks belonged to. Now Barry wanted to give them back, now he really did want them gone.

 

The marks on his body belonged to Leonard Snart. A murderer. A criminal.

 

A murderer and a criminal that Barry just helped to arrest.

 

Barry sighed.

 

This never should have been a problem. Everyone had assumed that Mick Rory was Captain Cold’s soulmate because it made sense. The amount of time the two spent together and how long they had known each other … no one could have guessed that Barry …

 

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been still. When people meet their soulmate, when they touch the scars on their body burn for a moment.

 

Barry could only be grateful that it was Joe who accompanied him down to Snart and Rory’s cell when he went to get their fingerprints.

 

_“Barry I’m not comfortable with you doing this” Joe sighed but Barry just shrugged._

_“C’mon Joe it’s just fingerprints I’ve done this before”_

_“Yeah I know but … look Snart is a special kind of clever even if I hate to admit it. If he doesn’t recognise you we’ll be lucky.”_

_“Joe I wear a mask he won’t recognise me”_

_Joe just nodded and motioned towards the door, Barry walked out in silence._

_The closer they got to the cells the tenser Joe got, Barry had never – not for a while – seen Joe this worked up and it was starting to make him nervous. Which was stupid, really, Barry had just defeated these two there was nothing to worry about._

_“Just stay behind me alright, j’so I can make sure these two won’t play up”_

_Barry nodded, there was no point trying to argue._

_Arriving outside of the two cells Barry looked at the two men._

_Leonard Snart was lying on the bench with an arm over his face, seemingly relaxed, and Mick Rory was sitting up eyeing the door in an unnerving way._

_“Look at it all you want Rory, there’s still a whole lotta police upstairs waiting to take you out”_

_Rory just barked out a laugh and clicked his neck from side to side._

_“Alright do Snart first” Joe put the keys in the lock and narrowed his eyes at Snart who had sat up by this point._

_“Don’t even think of trying anything Snart, or I’ll have you down before you can even whisper ‘Captain Cold’”_

_Cold just raised his cuffed hands and raised his eyebrows at Joe, “Wouldn’t dream of it detective”_

_Barry came out from behind Joe and Snart stiffened._

_“Can’t find anyone else to do this can you?”_

_Barry froze … surely Snart didn’t know he was …_

_Joe huffed, “Trying to put off getting your fingerprints done Snart? Didn’t take you as the type to delay the inevitable”_

_Snart frowned, and then smirked, “No but I’m sure you don’t want you son getting close and personal with me … might give him the wrong idea”_

_“Why you -” Joe stepped forward but Barry put an arm across him._

_“Look Joe it’s fine, he’s just trying to get to you.”_

_“This is happening whether you like it or not, Snart” Barry said calmly and the man frowned, before muttering to himself._

_“What?” Barry asked and Snart just raised an eyebrow._

_“Nothing kid, lets just get this over with.”_

_Barry frowned; the man was definitely acting weird. Sure, Barry didn’t really know him that well but he still knew he wasn’t saying something._

_Barry opened up his kit and reached out his hand, asking for Snart’s arm. He knew from experience it was better to have a criminal offer their hand rather than trying to take it._

_Snart lifted up his arm, hesitating for a second, before handing it over to Barry._

_Barry grabbed onto Snart’s hand and gasped._

_He felt his whole body had been hit with a live wire, each scar on his body stung as much as it had when they first appeared on his skin, but this time they hit him all at once._

_Barry saw a small shake go through Snart’s body and as the man rolled his neck he saw faint lines going up the side. The kind of jagged scars that would have been caused from –_

_Barry ripped himself away from Snart, tumbling backwards. He would have fell but Joe caught him, eyes wide, as speechless as Barry._

_For a moment no one spoke._

_But then Barry looked at Snart, looked at the way the man kept a detached, unaffected look and Barry wasn’t sure what he expected but it still hurt._

_He pulled himself out of Joe’s arms and ran out of the room._

Barry couldn’t understand how Snart had been so unaffected. He thought back to the moment, to how it had shook through his entire body and then compared that to Snart. The man had hardly flinched … as if he’d been prepared for the shock.

 

Barry picked up his shirt from the opposite side of the room. Thinking about it, Snart had tried to put off Barry taking his finger prints, he’d asked for someone else and had … he’d avoided touching Barry.

 

 _“Shit”_ Barry whispered, he couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid.

 

 

 

 

Leonard Snart sat in his cell and started at the door in front of him. His pulse was beating faster than it should and he couldn’t do anything to slow it down, despite how hard he was trying.

 

He knew Joe West was standing outside of his cell, Len couldn’t see him but he could hear him huff to himself every few minutes, as if he was the one who had been inconvenienced.

 

In Len’s defence he had tried to put off his meeting. If West had just done what Len had asked none of this would have ever happened.

 

Len had known about Barry since the kid got hit by lightning

 

_Len takes a sip of his beer and stares at his TV. On the news Harrison Wells goes on about the good he’s going to bring with his particle accelerator, but Len knows. Len has met enough bad people in his life to recognise a wolf in a sheep’s skin. He’s never been sure what it is about the man that unnerves him but Len knows better than to go against his instincts._

_The door suddenly slams open and Len is on his feet in his second, gun out, pointing at the door._

_It’s Lisa and she rolls her eyes, “God, Lenny, paranoid much”_

_She walks over to the other sofa with Mick sleeping on and sits on it, before propping her feet up on his lap._

_Len just stands there for a moment silently cursing his sister; he could have shot her. Lisa just sighs, “Look, if you’re up get me a drink at least, will you? It’s been a long day and I’m tired”_

_Len heads into the kitchen and grabs another beer out of the fridge, “Sam and Rosalind giving you a hard time? You know you could just let me put a bullet in their heads right?” He yells over his shoulder, “Or at least Scudder anyway”, he mutters, closing the fridge._

_“No Len. They drive me crazy but you know how much they mean to me.”_

_Len scoffs, he doesn’t know how exactly the three of them make it work, or why in fact because Lisa could do better, but in way he knows the three of them are good for each other._

_Len re-enters the living room and stands at the door; Lisa smirks at him. “Besides, you know if I wanted to I could handle it myself.”_

_Stepping forward Len holds out the beer, “I know that sis but that’s -”_

_A jolt of pain hits Len and he falls to his knees, dropping the beer._

_“Lenny?” Suddenly Lisa is standing up_

_Len can’t respond, it feels as though his whole body is on fire_

_“Len? C’mon man what’s wrong?” Mick is up as well and Len holds back a scream._

_His soulmate._

_Len knows its stupid to worry about someone he’s never met but the irrational part of him fears for what’s happening to them. Soulmates don’t usually feel what’s happening to the other unless it involves a close call with death or …_

_Len’s eyes just about make it to the TV screen before he passes out. He can just about see the damage report on the screen._

After Len recovered, it wasn’t hard to find out that his soulmate was one Barry Allen, after all, how many other people would get hit by lightning the night of the particle accelerator and survive.

 

Len had been disappointed at first to find out Barry worked for the CCPD, there was no way they could make it work like that. But then he’d realised it was for the best, the kid wouldn’t be in danger this way, well, so long as no one but Mick or Lisa know who he was.

 

There was a noise outside the cell and Len could hear West whispering angrily to someone before the man’s face appeared in front of the small window on the door.

 

“Try anything and you’ll regret it” He simply said and the cell clicked open.

 

The door opened slowly and for a moment Len wondered if West was attempting to trick him into trying to escape, but then Barry walked in.

 

Len let his face go blank and he leant against the wall, resting his palms on his lap.

 

“You knew”

 

He wasn’t surprised the kid found out, he was smart after all.

 

“I found out” Len confirmed

 

“How long?”

 

“Since the lightning, don’t know if you checked, but not a lot of people could have left this” Len tapped his chest, “On me that night.”

 

Barry’s eyes widened as if he’d forgotten about the marks they would leave on eachother.

 

He opened his mouth but then shut it quickly, blushing lightly. Len was quiet for a moment, wondering if Barry would ask, and he didn’t disappoint.

 

The kid looked Len dead in the eye, “I want to see it”

 

“What? No asking?”

 

The other man paused for a moment, “No, no asking. I want to see it.”

 

Len didn’t hesitate as he ripped his shirt off. At first, when he’d first received the mark he hadn’t been able to breathe every time he looked at it, understanding what it meant. But then he thought of what his soulmate had to bear because of him and suddenly he felt ashamed that this was all he had to show for it.

 

Barry covered his mouth with one hand and reached out softly with the other. Len only winced slightly as Barry’s hand moved closely down the lines covering his chest.

 

“I’m so s-” He began but Len cut him off.

 

“Don’t! Don’t … apologise. Not when … after what I’ve left you with”

 

Too much emotion came through and Len almost regretted it, but the look on Barry’s face distracted him before he could feel it properly.

 

Barry’s face became determined and his whole stance changed, “No. You don’t get to take them away from me. I did what I was meant to. For all those years I took what was meant for you and I’ve never regretted a moment of it so you don’t take that away. I’m proud of it. I’m sad that you went through it but I’m proud I get to bear them so you won’t have to.”

 

Len stared at Barry and narrowed his eyes. The kid had got too close and Len really looked at him.

 

He could tell Barry was a martyr and Len knew he could use that to his advantage. From the way he spoke to Barry it was obvious that he cared a lot – too much. He was bold too, unafraid to challenge Len like so many had. Len stared at him and then tilted his head to the left, closing his right eye.

 

Barry looked momentarily confused but then moved back to normal.

 

He had a theory.

 

“You really think I care kid? I don’t. I don’t care what you did for me because at the end of the day it meant nothing? You pitied me when you saw those marks? Well thanks but you can keep your pity because I don’t need it … or you” Len snarled and Barry went from looking sad to angry within seconds.

 

“You’re just another stupid kid that thinks he can save people because of his own tragic backstory. You think you could save me just because you couldn’t save your –”

 

Within seconds Len found his back slammed against the wall, Barry’s hands grabbing either side of his top.

 

“You _don’t_ get to –”

 

Len laughed and Barry frowned, cut off.

 

“Thought so” Len grinned and Barry blanched, as if just realising what he’d done.

 

But then his face went blank, “Listen Snart if you think you can use this against me”

 

Len just rolled his eyes, “Look, kid, I had my suspicions already okay. The only part that didn’t add up was you being the Flash and working here, thought you wouldn’t have the time for both. Guess I’m wrong.”

 

Barry let go of Len. “Guess so”

 

Barry looked wary of Len and Len sighed, “Ki-Barry. I’m not going to use this against you. But you should probably go.”

 

“Go?” Barry frowned

 

“Yeah. Go. Before anyone suspects anything.”

 

The younger man’s frown deepened, “But it doesn’t matter if they suspect anything. You’re my soulmate and I can’t be punished for that”

 

Len felt his chest tighten, “I get that. But this isn’t going to work so go before it get’s you in trouble.”

 

“What do you mean it won’t work you haven’t even tried”

 

Len’s jaw almost dropped – almost.

 

“A few minutes ago you came down here to take my finger prints, then you ran out probably cursing whatever gods you believe in that I ended up being your soulmate. Do you know why? It’s because I’m a criminal and I hurt people. I’ve killed people before. If you think that’s going to change because –”

 

“I get that okay? I get you aren’t going to change. I mean, the killing part yeah, I guess that will probably have to stop but only because you’re better than that. But I’m not going to change you.”

 

“You’re going to try”

 

Barry just shook his head, “W-no. I’m not. I want you. I want to try _with you._ My soul mate is … is a criminal. But you’re still my soulmate for a reason don’t you see that”

 

Len’s chest felt so hard he couldn’t breath and he almost snarled at Barry. “No. I don’t because that’s not how it works. Guys like you – good guys – don’t just accept this”

 

 _“Barry, you’ve gotta go now”_ Joe called from out the cell and Barry walked towards the door.

 

“Leonard, I’m going to show you I mean it. I want you. I’ve waited for you. I’ve suffered for you and you’ve suffered for me. Not for some idealistic versions of each other but for the real thing. I’ll prove to you”

 

With a final smile Barry left the cell, the door shutting behind him.

 

Len shut his eyes and wondered what the hell he’d got himself in to.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so my coldflash week is so far behind it's stupid.  
> Buuuut, here is day two regardless and I hope that you enjoyed it!


End file.
